Helston flood defences begin in Cornwall

The small town of Helston in Cornwall is scheduled to receive investment worth £2M into the flood defences which border the River Cober, including the construction of a new road ramp, earth embankments, and a new flood wall.

Going into more detail, the aforementioned Helston defences will be in place on Mill Lane and will extend until the site of St John’s Road Bridge, with the road ramp being in place at the end of Mill Lane whereas the rendered flood wall will be in place between St John’s Road Bridge and County Bridge.

A flood defence project was similarly completed recently at the nearby Loe Pool, named the Loe Bar scheme, with the combination of these two flood defence projects protecting a combined total of 121 homes in Helston.

The Environment Agency have contracted Kier Construction to operate as the main contractor on this scheme with construction set to begin this month and continue until the Autumn.

The Environment Agency Project Manager, David Harker stated: “We are delighted to be building this flood defence scheme for the residents of Helston. Helston has a long history of flooding from the River Cober and Loe Pool.

“Once complete these defences combined with the defence at Loe bar will reduce flood risk to one in 100 years. We hope people will come along on Thursday to meet us and see how we plan to build the scheme.”

Local residents of Helston were encouraged to attend a public drop-in session at the Old Cattle Market on Thursday 6^th February 2020, where they could meet the Environment Agency and Kier team members who would be working on the project, to get an impression of the timescales and planning that is in place as well as how construction might affect their daily lives.

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